There will not be another devaluation of the Belarusian national currency, Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) Piotr Prokopovich told reporters after he had presented a report to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on January 12, BelTA has learnt. “A one-off devaluation was carried out earlier this year. It signaled that there will not be another devaluation of the national currency. We have completely fulfilled our duty and there is no more need for a one-off devaluation,” he said. Piotr Prokopovich reminded that Belarus had actively negotiated a loan with the International Monetary Fund. In late 2008, the IMF preliminarily agreed to grant our country a $2.5 billion loan. A necessity to devaluate the Belarusian ruble emerged during the negotiations. The sides disagreed upon the way the devaluation should be carried out: should it be a one-off or a gradual devaluation. “Till the end of the last year we defended the point of view that the devaluation of the Belarusian ruble should be gradual, but later the National Bank decided to hold a one-off devaluation,” Piotr Prokopovich said. In the conditions of the global financial crisis and the economic crisis the country should be sensitive to any changes. In the previous years, the national currency rate had been stable; it did not change much over the last five years, so the people trusted us. But the crisis brought about some changes. The population watches the processes undergoing in other countries, and unfortunately, not always trusts what the National Bank announces. For example, last year, the National Bank maintained the currency rate within the level that was stipulated in the monetary policy of the country. At the end of 2008, the rate of the Belarusian ruble to the US dollar did not exceed Br2200 for $1. Despite all that, the people started to frantically purchase foreign currency. “In December we lost a lot of foreign currency because we sold it to the population,” Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus said. Therefore the country realized that in the conditions of the global crisis it should undertake the most efficient measures to encourage the economic development, export and production. A one-off devaluation is most effective from this viewpoint. A gradual devaluation is less efficient. As for some negative repercussions of a one-off devaluation, like higher prices for imported goods, that would happen anyway sooner or later. The National Bank and the IMF did not have any disagreements about the size of the devaluation (20%). A session of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund is to be held on January 12. This session is to take the final decision about granting a loan to Belarus. Our country may get the first tranche at the amount of $800 million as early as in January. “The agreements signed between Belarus and the IMF give us a green light to attract foreign investment in the country’s economy, to apply for loans to international finance organizations and the EU countries, which means that we will have an opportunity to work on the international finance market without restrictions. We did not have such an opportunity before,” Piotr Prokopovich said. БЕЛТА
Written by belta.by
